Oh, how many more silly and naive movies will I still review? Well, the answer is likely a lot, as I somehow end up watching them way more often than I'd like to admit. In this case, however, I will be far less negative than in some of my other reviews, as the movie in question is gullible in a surprisingly charming way.
I am very much an opponent of just throwing every movie into the same grading categories. Not every single one of them is made to be deep and full of moments that make you reconsider your life choices or world view. Some just want to be happy-go-lucky stories of nothing but candy and rainbows and they should definitely not be reviewed in the same way as a psychological thriller. They're just different things.
So after this lengthy introduction, let's dive into a review of one of those extremely gullible movies - The Royal Treatment.
Synopsis
The Royal Treatment is a romantic comedy so typical for its genre, that I could copy-paste any rom-com synopsis and it'd probably pass for it.
Izzy is a hairdresser in a struggling salon that's had a serious accident, causing them to nearly go out of business. Her whole life changes when she is mistakenly booked to cut the hair of the prince of Lavania, Thomas. Getting offered $500 for the cut, she cannot refuse and decides to take up the challenge.
While beginning to do her job, she sees a housekeeper being treated badly and - with her righteous persona - refuses to finish the haircut, leaving to go home, even if it means losing the chance to get the money.
The Prince goes to her salon to ask her to finish his haircut, they spend a fun night and that is where the story starts as they clearly begin to develop feelings for one another.
My Opinion
I have mentioned The Royal Treatment in my previous reviews, so if you read those, you probably know I am not opposed to the idea of movies like this. Honestly speaking, this review will not be as long as the others, I believe, as there is very little to talk about. I am writing it more as an ode to simplicity and to make a point about how we should be rating movies.
First of all, I'll get this out of the way - it is not an ambitious movie. It does not do anything particularly great. The story is far-fetched, at times not very realistic and well.. it is extremely cheesy. There are clear negatives, not all actors do a great job and there are some lazy segments in which you can tell that this was not anyone's life work.
Now I want to move on to the less obvious and point out the things that The Royal Treatment does well. In my opinion, there is a lot that it does well - not in the way that the best movies do, but in making sure that it reaches what it sets out to do. This movie is not meant to be good in the broad context of the cine world. It is meant to be easy to watch, give you a smile, have you go all "awww" here and there - and then most likely forget it afterwards. It is meant to be the small hangover meal that you eat when you can't take in anything proper.
At that, The Royal Treatment is surprisingly good. It tells a simple story with fairly predictable characters to which we know the ending of by the time the opening sequence is over. You may then ask - why are you even reviewing this movie in particular, when many before it have done the same thing, maybe even in a better way. Well, the answer to that is pretty simple - it's had some moments that made me like it a lot.
First of all, it never tried to be too dramatic. I avoid too much drama in movies, unless it is in a very good production, so this hit very close to home. There was no forced random moment where it would be extremely cringe because there's drama between tons of characters for no proper reason other than miscommunication. The Royal Treatment does not have much of that. This is what makes it better than many others in my eyes.
What ties into that point is that there is simply not some crazy evil character looking only to ruin everyone's fun. Pretty much every person in the movie has good intentions, even if they can do something that's not great for others. It is simply a happy-go-lucky rom-com that does what it should - make you laugh sometimes and smile other times.
Overall, I can recommend this to those who like rom-coms.. and no one else. It isn't a great movie in the grand scheme of things; but if you like this sort of cinema, I find it difficult to believe you'll have many reasons to dislike The Royal Treatment.
Closing Words
Once again I did a rom-com/lifestyle/whatever show.. I swear I am not that one-dimensional and eventually I'll do something better! Eventually..
I'm actually watching a fun crime series and it is likely that will show up in one of the next reviews. On top of that, I've been getting myself to write about Catherine the Great as well, so there will be great stuff too! Whenever I feel like it, that is.